Lost By 1

 

Morning

The Oscar Watch was tons of fun, even if I didn't predict the most wins. Lost by 1. We saw all the nominated stuff. What a mixed bag of weird. IMO, there wasn't a solid film among the nominations for Best Film. Each film was flawed in some way. Anora, the big winner of the night which tried so very hard to be a comedy, was especially flawed. And, that Mikey Madison took home the Naked Man over Demi Moore put the exclamation point to the story arc of the absurdist horror film that is The Substance. Conclave missed the mark by not running a proper through-line before the big reveal at the end. Emilia Perez turned what could've been a great film into a musical. A Complete Unknown is decent but not Oscar-worthy --- a superb performance by Timothee Chalamet isn't enough to win Best Film. A Real Pain left the gate and went lame when the crux of the trip ended with a whimper as lame as Culkin's unbelievable sob scene. I'm Still Here...meh, though it took home International Film. Nickel Boys tried to give a tight point of view with Go-Pro-style camera angles which turned it into a jumbled mess. Dune Two and Wicked both did well in the categories they won, and they're good entertainment. The Brutalist...well, it made its point (it's an architectural style; the Nazi's were (are) brutal; Americans were (are) brutal), but holy smokes, some scenes went on far too long. In the end, Sing-Sing, which didn't make the final list for Best Film really is the best film.

Adrien Brody v Timothee Chalamet? Well, they both turned in very good performances. Brody's win didn't disappoint me.

Conan O'Brien did a really good job hosting. As usual, year after year, In Memoriam made the same mistake of not giving the home audience a decent full-screen view of the those who have left us.

But never fear, the Naked Man With the Sword will return for a 98th time next year.

I can only hope it's a better crop of films.